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Bath/Wales Itinerary Review

My husband and I (early 60’s) will be visiting UK in May. We are both in good shape. Our plan is to spend 8 days in London, 2 days in Bath, 5 days in Southern Wales. The London part of the trip is well planned. I’d like some review of my Bath / Wales plans, which I put together based on reading much Fodorite advice.

We will be picking up a car at London Heathrow. Driving to Bath on Saturday in May. Staying at the Abbey hotel.
Saturday: Bath Museums, Old Green Tree Pub
Sunday: Mayor tour at 1 PM; Jane Austen House, Winchester Cathedral (place to eat?)
Monday: Drive to Wales; Cheptow, Roman Fortress and Baths at Caerleon, Tintern Abbey, Raglan Castle (stay at Lincoln Hotel Cardiff)
Tuesday: Cardiff Castle, National Museum of Wales, St Fagan's Museum
Wednesday: Castel Coch, Caerphilly Castle, Drive to Tenby (stay at the Esplanade )
Thursday: Walks along coast, Drive to St. David’s (stay at Twr Y Felin Hotel); St Davids Cathedral. Eating at the hotel.
Friday: coastal path in Pembrokeshire National Park
Saturday: Drive to Heathrow and drop off car (stay at airport Hilton)
Does this look feasible? Any thing we shouldn’t miss in the region? Would it be worth getting Natl Trust pass?

The itinerary is very busy now, But here are some alternatives, but not to squeeze in.

If you have enough time in Bath walk around The Royal Crescent and The Circus area.
Outside of Bath; Iford House/Gardens, Lacock Village,
Eating and drinking; Bath Brew House.
Wales: Carew Castle, Pembroke Castle, Caerfai Bay ( steps can be difficult to access at time),St Dogmaels Abbey, Stack Rocks (can be closed due to the tank range, Marloes & Dale for boat trips to see island nesting birds.

Your Tuesday looks a little crowded. You could easily spend most of a day at St. Fagan's, for instance; we had about half a day and we didn't get to see everything. Cardiff Castle will take an hour or two, depending on whether or not you do a tour.

Thanks for both. I would put St. Fagen's above the other museum. I will see how we might fit some those suggestions. Really like the boat ride suggestion.

Should I spend another day in Cardiff and skip Tenby? I am thinking we could enjoy the coast from St. David's. We like history - castles and museum but also some nice walks along the coast and parks would be great. We need a little flexibility for weather so we can flip days around. St. David's doesn't seem that far from Tenby. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I was in Cardiff and southern England last year and saw many of the sights you have planned. One thing you should check on is whether graduation ceremonies might be taking place while you're in cathedral towns like Bath and Winchester. You can't go into the cathedral while those are taking place, plus the towns will be extremely crowded. That happened to me in both. I adapted by rearranging my schedule and in the end it wasn't a huge problem, but it's something to check into.

Salisbury is also a wonderful town that's well worth a visit, and there is a wonderful coal mine museum outside of Cardiff that I highly recommend.

I don't think you'll have time for all of this, if you mean to visit the Jane Austen House Museum (JAHM) in Chawton. The Mayor's Tours are about 1.5-2 hours long and IIRC, it's a long drive from Bath to JAHM, not to mention Winchester, and back. We loved the Mayor's Tour and the JAHM so I hope you can find a way to do both.

Alternatively, you might visit the JAHM and Winchester on your way to Bath from London. We started out in Bognor Regis and visited JAHM, Winchester Cathedral and Stonehenge on our way to Bath last year. It worked out fine.

I second nola77382’s suggestion of going to Chawton and Winchester on your way to Bath on Saturday. Jane Austen’s House Museum will open at 10:00 a.m. Winchester Cathedral will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (on Sunday, it will only be open from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.) Be sure to visit the Crypt at the Cathedral. There are guided tours.

We stayed at the Abbey Hotel in Bath. It was a lovely hotel in a fabulous location. There is a Hop On Hop Off Bus that stops right outside of the hotel. We find them helpful to get an overview of the cities.